Daybreak Wednesday 12/9/20

A TREAT TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!

Light snow. Probably. There's low pressure moving in, with a chance of snow starting this morning and odds rising as the day goes on. Could last through tonight, but whenever it falls, it looks like it'll be less than an inch. Temps rising to around freezing late in the day, dropping only to the high 20s overnight.Light show. Definitely. Sorry, couldn't resist. Dartmouth videographer Chris Johnson spent some time over at the La Sallette Shrine in Enfield the other night, photographing the holiday light display there. Snowflakes, candy canes, bells, flowers, candles, angels blowing horns, PEACE... If you haven't made it over there, Chris has done the gawking for you.New cluster at Mt. Ascutney Hospital; DHMC child care closes. The outbreak at the hospital has affected both staff and patients in the acute rehabilitation unit, reports the Valley News's Nora Doyle-Burr. The hospital first reported them last week and has found no additional cases since Friday but is continuing to test. Meanwhile, Doyle-Burr writes, the Hanover Terrace outbreak now affects 90 percent of residents, with two "quite ill." And the child care center at DHMC has closed "as we work through confirmed cases of COVID-19.” It did not respond to a request for details.Patience, says D-H. In a video update on vaccine distribution yesterday, associate chief quality officer Dr. Michael Calderwood says they've had a large team working on how to implement vaccine plans, but that a lot remains up in the air. “Primary care doctors will not have information on when the vaccine is available for quite a period of time, and we ask that you not call your primary care physician asking when the vaccine will be available," he said, noting that the hospital's vaccine task force will be working on updates. It won't be until next spring that they expect to have gotten to "many" of the highest-risk groups.Multiple jobs may contribute to spread of Covid in long-term care facilities. That's the conclusion of a new study by a pair of economists at UNH and sociology prof Kristin Smith at Dartmouth. Low wages and limited hours, they found, lead nurses, aides, and other long-term care workers to hold down second jobs. "With...many of these workers moving across health settings from their first to second jobs, this creates a potential pathway for COVID-19 transmission," Smith tells Dartmouth News's Amy Olson.SPONSORED: Take care of yourself during the pandemic. Prominent health care practitioners are encouraging people to find ways to bolster their immune systems and manage their mental and physical health. Open Door Integrative Wellness, serving the Upper Valley from White River Junction, is committed to offering pragmatic tools to individuals and groups in order to help you ride this challenging wave. Join them for free on Dec. 16th from 6-7pm for "A Taste Of Open Door" to learn more about what they offer. More info at the maroon link. Sponsored by Open Door Integrative Wellness. Do not confuse creeping snowberry with snowberry. The creeping kind, Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast notes as she details what's out in the woods this second week in December, is in the same genus as wintergreen and has the same taste. Plain ol' snowberry, a garden plant, is toxic. She also gets into tree cavities (there are 41 species that use them in the Northeast), red sphagnum, red squirrels, various fungi, and thallose liverworts. (Please, show some respect: fossilized liverwort spores date as far back as 472 million years.)"A community of the miraculous." Yesterday morning, waiting for dawn so he could head out and, among other things, catch up on the marauding flock of turkeys that have been wandering his property, Thetford's Ted Levin read the recent NYT Mag story on forest ecologist Suzanne Simard and her research into the nutrient-sharing and communications among Douglas firs enabled by fungal networks. "Forest Socialism," Levin writes: "one tree rejuvenates another; dying trees disperse stored resources; hardwoods benefit conifers; conifers benefit hardwoods. Trees benefit fungi. Fungi benefit trees."About those visitors from up north... You may have noticed that several photographers in Daybreak over the last few weeks caught shots of grosbeaks, finches, and other birds that don't usually spend time this far south. I'd been wondering about these visits, and finally found my way to Nathaniel Sharp's great post on the VT Center for Ecostudies blog last week explaining it all (with photos, links to birdcalls, and lots of other info). Basically, boreal food crops for a variety of species either were poor this year or, in the case of Purple Finches, spruce budworm created a lot of food and, hence, a lot of little Purple Finches.Passing of an era. Curtis Tuff died yesterday morning, according to a FB post from his family. He first arrived in Putney, VT as a migrant fruit picker, following the apple harvest. He eventually stayed, first at Green Mountain Orchards and then, in 1971, to run the barbecue pit he set up in town just off I-91. In the decades since, Curtis' BBQ, with its old blue bus and Curtis himself greeting customers, drew people from all over the world. This year, with the pandemic and declining health keeping him sidelined, Curtis's daughter Sarah took over. "Just during this time we need to mourn and we love you all," the post reads.Interesting faceoff over in Laconia yesterday. The Belknap County legislative delegation, which among other things signs off on the county budget, decided to hold a public meeting last night in a cramped room without remote access. The delegation is led by GOP state Rep. Mike Sylvia, one of the group of legislators seeking to impeach Gov. Chris Sununu over mask regs. After the Laconia Daily Sun asked the AG to intervene, the legislators decided to allow audio of the hearing last night—though as NHPR's Todd Bookman reports, there was no way for the public to comment on the budget proceedings. NH state revenues continue to outpace expectations. State levies last month produced almost $28 million more than the budget plan, writes InDepthNH's Garry Rayno, despite the Covid case surge. Several large corporate payments helped produce greater-than-expected business tax receipts, and real estate sales continued at a fast clip, bringing in $6.6 million more than estimates. The state's rooms and meals tax, on the other hand—an indicator of restaurant and lodging activity—continued to drag.Two weeks after Thanksgiving, Brattleboro cases spike. Not this year, though. In 1918, during the influenza pandemic. And after a large holiday parade attended by thousands of people. Vermont state archivist Tanya Marshall has been tweeting out the results of her research into newspaper records of the time, looking for parallels and differences in how towns and the state handled things. She talked yesterday to VPR's Mitch Wertlieb about how she got started and what she's found.One big difference: They didn't have text messaging in 1918. But we do now, and VT is launching text-based contact tracing. In a press conference yesterday, health officials announced that they'll be reaching out to close contacts of Covid cases via text message, though they'll also follow up by phone within 24 hours with more detailed information about exposure, testing, and quarantine. Health department data shows 17 percent of close contacts go on to become cases themselves, reports VTDigger's Erin Petenko.“Of course, they have more personality than cows do. They follow you around when you’re in the barn.” That's N. Hyde Park, VT farmer Brian Jones talking about the goats that began arriving at Joneslan Farm on Sunday. Brian and his brother Steve sold off their cow herd earlier this year—the farm had been milking cows for 150 years—to make the switch to goat's milk; they're planning on 1,500 goats all told, which will make them the state's largest goat dairy. All the milk will go to VT Creamery. Lots of personality-filled pics with Anne Wallace Allen's VTDigger story.Next time you're in Bellows Falls... You could pause for a moment to remember Hetty Green. She was once the country's, and perhaps the world's, wealthiest woman, and she made her home there. She was also, writes Susan Apel on her Artful blog, "by most accounts...shrewd, ornery, and ill-dressed." Also, um, frugal. She ordered her son "to resell the daily newspaper by hawking it on the neighborhood streets after Hetty had read it," Susan writes. Not much is left other than her gravestone; her home was torn down years ago. Even the abandoned Hetty Green motel had a tree fall on it.We'll cut the suspense: Jack Stuef. He's a 32-year-old Michigan native and medical student who happens to be the guy who solved what may be the world's most famous treasure hunt: the search for the treasure chest hidden by Forrest Fenn somewhere in the Rockies in 2010. The one five people have died trying to find. Stuef had hoped to remain anonymous, but legal maneuvering around the whole thing has gotten intense, and his cover was going to be blown soon, anyway. In Outside, Daniel Barbarisi—himself a treasure hunter—recounts the whole story. Including why Stuef won't tell where he found it.

Yesterday in numbers...

News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:

Andrew Adams was 12 the first time he showed up at the old barn and farmhouse in Greensboro, VT, that anchor Circus Smirkus. He spent seven summers touring New England with the troupe, before going on to a lauded career as a solo and duo aerial straps performer.

—the music is Max Richter's "The Quality of Mercy."

Have a fine day in there. See you tomorrow.

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